{"id":1509,"date":"2022-12-06T13:20:06","date_gmt":"2022-12-06T13:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/?p=1509"},"modified":"2022-12-07T17:31:30","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T17:31:30","slug":"is-dwayne-an-african-american-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/is-dwayne-an-african-american-name\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Dwayne An African American Name? (The Numbers!)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This article looks at whether Dwayne is a typically African American first name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I used census records from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to see how historically popular the name was in black communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, the more recent censuses don\u2019t publish full names for privacy reasons. So, I had to look for alternative sources to evaluate the popularity within the last twenty years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The short answer is that Dwayne has become a typically African American name in recent years. However, it wasn\u2019t a popular choice for black parents historically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_65 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 eztoc-toggle-hide-by-default' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/is-dwayne-an-african-american-name\/#Was_Dwayne_A_Black_Name_In_The_19th_And_Early_20th_Century\" title=\"Was Dwayne A Black Name In The 19th And Early 20th Century?\">Was Dwayne A Black Name In The 19th And Early 20th Century?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/is-dwayne-an-african-american-name\/#Dwayne_In_The_1960s_And_1970s\" title=\"Dwayne In The 1960s And 1970s\">Dwayne In The 1960s And 1970s<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/is-dwayne-an-african-american-name\/#Is_Dwayne_A_Typically_Black_First_Name_Currently\" title=\"Is Dwayne A Typically Black First Name Currently?\">Is Dwayne A Typically Black First Name Currently?<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/is-dwayne-an-african-american-name\/#What_about_New_Hampshire\" title=\"What about New Hampshire?\">What about New Hampshire?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/is-dwayne-an-african-american-name\/#Why_were_there_so_few_schools_in_this_survey\" title=\"Why were there so few schools in this survey?\">Why were there so few schools in this survey?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/is-dwayne-an-african-american-name\/#The_challenge_of_using_high_school_photos\" title=\"The challenge of using high school photos\">The challenge of using high school photos<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Was_Dwayne_A_Black_Name_In_The_19th_And_Early_20th_Century\"><\/span>Was Dwayne A Black Name In The 19<sup>th<\/sup> And Early 20<sup>th<\/sup> Century?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To review whether Dwayne was common amongst African Americans in the 19<sup>th<\/sup> and early 20<sup>th<\/sup> centuries, I looked at several federal censuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 1870 federal census was taken after the Civil War. This was the first census that counted all African Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There were only six people named Dwayne in the 1870 census, which made it a very rare name in the United States at that time. None of the six were recorded as black.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By 1900, the number had grown to thirty-three residents. Two were black, which is six percent of the total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the black residents was an adult in Philadelphia, and the other was a child in Harrison, Texas. The child\u2019s parents were Levi and Laura.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/1940-census.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1482\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/1940-census.jpg 600w, https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/1940-census-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>processing the 1940 census<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>By 1940, the total number had jumped to 3,734 residents. However, the numbers hadn\u2019t jumped similarly in black communities. With only 17 black residents, the black proportion was about 0.5%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>My conclusion is that Dwayne was a rare name in the United States in the late 19<sup>th<\/sup> and early 20<sup>th<\/sup> century. It was also an unusual name amongst African Americans.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Dwayne_In_The_1960s_And_1970s\"><\/span>Dwayne In The 1960s And 1970s<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A research study <a href=\"https:\/\/dataverse.harvard.edu\/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910\/DVN\/TYJKEZ&amp;version=1.3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">used mortgage applications<\/a> from 2007 to identify the breakdown of first names by ethnicity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We can guess that most of the applicants were aged from thirty to fifty. So, the numbers represent people born in the 1960s and early 1970s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There were 488 people named Dwayne who applied for a mortgage. This was the ethnic breakdown:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>White: 75%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Black: 23%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>But I also spotted less common variants of the name. Here are the black percentages:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Dwaine: 11%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Dwain: 16%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Duane: 6%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Dewayne: 25%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Compared to the historic census numbers in the previous section, the proportion of Dwayne (and Dewyne) had grown significantly amongst African Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the black percentage was still only a quarter of the total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My conclusion is that Dwayne had grown somewhat in popularity for black parents in the 1960s and 1970s, but was still relatively uncommon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Is_Dwayne_A_Typically_Black_First_Name_Currently\"><\/span>Is Dwayne A Typically Black First Name Currently?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/high-school-yearbook.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1417\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/high-school-yearbook.jpg 600w, https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/high-school-yearbook-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Several online archives have collected thousands of high school yearbooks from the early 1900s up to 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I used Ancestry.com for my research. First, I ran name searches on three southern states with a significant black population:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Georgia<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Louisiana<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mississippi<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I used different time frames between 2006 and 2016. I wanted to find at least fifteen students with the name. That meant I had to use different starting points for different states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The table below is the summary of my review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The column headed \u201cDwayne\u201d was the total number of students with the name that I found across the schools with uploaded yearbooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table alignfull is-style-stripes\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>State<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Schools<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>&#8220;Dwayne&#8221;<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Black<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Georgia<\/td><td>15<\/td><td>22<\/td><td>82%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Louisiana<\/td><td>16<\/td><td>17<\/td><td>71%<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Mississippi<\/td><td>9<\/td><td>16<\/td><td>69%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There was one black female in the results from Louisiana. As there were two separate pictures of the girl, I don\u2019t think this was a mislabelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There was one student in Georgia named Dwayne who was Hispanic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But as you can see, the name Dwayne was far more likely to belong to African American students in these three states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>My conclusion is that Dwayne has become a typically African American first name in recent years.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_about_New_Hampshire\"><\/span>What about New Hampshire?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-rounded\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/new-hampshire-stamp.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1484\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/new-hampshire-stamp.jpg 600w, https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/new-hampshire-stamp-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>To balance this survey, I also looked at a state with a low black population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I searched the New Hampshire yearbooks from 2006 to 2016 for anyone named Dwayne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There were two white students and one black student in the available yearbooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_were_there_so_few_schools_in_this_survey\"><\/span>Why were there so few schools in this survey?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, there are more than fourteen schools in Louisiana (there are 558 to be exact).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But many schools don\u2019t have yearbooks available online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second column in the table shows the number of schools that came up in the results when I searched for the name Dwayne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s also possible that a school has a yearbook online but has nobody by the name of Dwayne. That means the school doesn\u2019t get counted in this survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_challenge_of_using_high_school_photos\"><\/span>The challenge of using high school photos<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019ve looked at historic census records in the U.S., you\u2019ll know that ethnicity is one of the questions that people are asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This means that the census archives can be searched by ethnicity as well as specific names. However, I could only search the high school yearbooks by student names and school locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, how did I identify African Americans from people of other heritage?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, the recent high school yearbooks have photographs of the students. I did it by eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m not going to be right with every pick. So, treat these numbers as an estimate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article looks at whether Dwayne is a typically African American first name. I used census records from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to see how historically popular the name was in black communities. Of course, the more recent censuses don\u2019t publish full names for privacy reasons. So, I had to look for &#8230; <a title=\"Is Dwayne An African American Name? (The Numbers!)\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/is-dwayne-an-african-american-name\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Is Dwayne An African American Name? (The Numbers!)\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1509"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1509"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1527,"href":"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1509\/revisions\/1527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exploreblackheritage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}